Suspect recced Govind Pansare home for 2 days

Those who killed Kolhapur’s Communist leader Govind Pansare, in February 2015, had tracked his movements closely before targeting him, it has emerged.

Police sources familiar with the investigation into the case, said one of the case’s suspects had stood on a watch outside his residence, for 48 hours, before two bike-borne youths shot at Pansare on February 16, 2015, which led to his death four days later.

The suspect who tracked Pansare is currently absconding. “A male suspect had stood outside Pansare’s house for two days before two shooters fired at him, leading to his death. The man was seen by witnesses, who subsequently identified him and have recorded their statements,” said the source. Pansare’s wife had sustained injuries in the attack too but survived.

The suspect, who stood outside Pansare’s house, is also under the scanner for his alleged key role in the August 2013 murder of Pune’s rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar that is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said the source. “The absconding man is a link to a suspected set of culprits who could have been involved in the Pansare and Dabholkar cases,” said the source. While the CBI is probing the Dabholkar case, the Maharashtra police is investigating the Pansare case.

Pansare case witnesses said those who allegedly attacked Pansare were wearing black hand-gloves and earmuffs; one of them was tall while the other was of medium-built. Both were on a black motorbike. The motorbike, which had no number plates, had two blue curving lines in the form of a design on its fuel tank. The pillion rider had allegedly stood on the footrest of the bike to pump bullets into Pansare.

There are similarities in the modus operandi employed by the culprits in the Dabholkar and Pansare cases — empty cartridges of a 7.65-mm country-made firearm were recovered from the sites where the duo was shot at by motorbike-borne men, in the early hours.

The CBI is set to send forensic samples to the UK’s Scotland Yard for ballistic experts to verify whether or not a single firearm was used to kill Dabholkar and Pansare, according to an agency source.

Certain alleged members of a right-wing group and organisations allied to it are under the scanner of the CBI and the Maharashtra police teams probing the Dabholkar and Pansare cases. The group however has rejected all allegations related to its role in the cases.